The good folk at BSCreview just posted an excerpt from Poppy Z. Brite’s D*U*C*K which is the second half of our new books, Second Line:Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans. Starring lovable chefs Rickey and G-man and their assorted crew of hard working, fun loving restaurant crew the first novel, The Value of X, introduces Rickey and Gary (as he is known in his pre-G-man years!) and tells the story of their first years together. D*U*C*K jumps past the intervening years (chronicled in the novels Liquor, Prime, and Soul Kitchen) to when the guys have their own restaurant but Rickey can’t resist a challenge and takes on an outside gig to cater the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet.

Also: we’re working on printing up a menu for the banquet for Poppy to sign and if it does work out we’ll be selling them here with or without copies of the book.

Everything you’ve heard about summer in New Orleans is true. The only tourists who visit during that infernal season are hardy Germans and Australians, who can weather anything, and people from Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, who are used to it and don’t have far to drive. The deepest pits of Hades have nothing on your average August day in the Crescent City. (You can say Crescent City if you like, because the Mississippi River cups the city in a crescent shape. Say “the Big Easy,” or, worse, “N’Awlins,” and people will know you’re a tourist.)